Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856) was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing. Tossup Questions # A piano imitates hunting-horns well into the postlude in a piece by this composer depicting a man's walk through a forest and encounter with an evil maiden. This composer incorporated the Marseillaise in his depiction of the death of a French grenadier in one of his songs. This composer had the right hand imitate Bach counterpoint while the left hand imitates three bells, in a song about the reflection of a cathedral in water. This composer wrote twenty-six songs, one for each letter of the alphabet, in his collection (*) Myrtles. In 1840, known as this composer's "year of song," he published a setting of Adalbert de Chamisso's A Woman's Love and Life, and set several poems by Joseph Eichendorff in his op. 39 Liederkreis. This composer's choral masterwork is a collection that ends with the poet declaring that he will put his suffering, love, dreams, and bad poems in a huge coffin and cast it out to sea. For 10 points, name this composer who adapted Heinrich Heine's Lyrical Intermezzo in his collection Dichterliebe, and dedicated Myrtles to his wife Clara Wieck. # A trumpet fanfare over low strings dominates the Sostenuto assai opening of this composer's second symphony, which ends with that same fanfare joined by the timpani and the rest of the brass. The horn in a horn-piano duo is oftˆen substituted for the cello or violin in this composer's op. 70 Adagio and Allegro, which was the first piece by a major composer specifically for the newly-invented valved horn. A popular tuba arrangement exists of a minute-long jolly piece originally for piano that was the tenth of a collection this composer dedicated to his daughters. Three trombones play a chorale in E-‚at minor counterpoint in the fourth movement of another of his symphonies, marked "feierlich," or "solemn," which follows a movement that totally omits brass and timpani, an A-‚at major movement marked "nicht schnell," or "not fast." This composer's Album for the Young includes his piece "The Happy Farmer," and his third symphony was inspired by his experience witnessing the appointment of a new cardinal in Cologne Cathedral. For 10 points, name this Romantic composer of the Rhenish Symphony, who married Clara Wieck. # One work by this composer concludes with the traditional "Grandfather's Dance" in a movement about King David's march against the Philistines. This composer of Carnaval wrote "Of Foreign Lands and Peoples" and depicted dreaming in "Träumerei" from his piano suite Scenes from Childhood. This composer wrote a symphony with the movements "Evening" and "Merry Playmates." Another of this composer's symphonies includes movements played "Lebhaft" and a fourth movement inspired by the composer's visit to the Cologne Cathedral on the title river. For 10 points, name this German composer of the "Spring" and "Rhenish" symphonies.